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An 11-year-old boy died Tuesday night, throwing himself from the 11th floor of his home in Naples, Italy. The boy left a farewell message to his parents, saying he “had no more time,” and authorities are investigating a possible connection to an internet challenge, such as “Goofy Man,” which incites self-harm and suicide of the child. .
“Mom, Dad, I love you. Now I have to follow the man in the black hood. I don’t have any more time. Forgive me.” This was the message that the 11-year-old boy sent to his parents by cell phone, before jumping from the 11th floor, at midnight Tuesday.
According to news from the Italian newspaper “Corriere della Sera”, the lucidity and urgency that the boy showed in the farewell message “scared” the investigators of the Naples Prosecutor’s Office, who opened a file. suicide instigation. Authorities believe the child may have fallen into a “cheat” on the Internet, having been forced by someone to commit suicide, possibly to save the life of the family or herself.
The outlines of the case resemble others. dangerous challenges on social media, such as the “Blue Whale”, which caused the suicide of more than two hundred children worldwide between 2017 and 2019, or the “Momo” doll, in 2018. The challenge of the “Blue Whale” led children to inflict visible injuries and committing suicide for a month. However, the boy’s life would have changed in a few days and, according to the data that the Police have collected so far, it could be another very similar game, like “Goofy Man”. In these profiles, created on social networks with Instagram or TikTok, someone introduces themselves with the name “Jonathan Galindo” and appears with a photograph of a man dressed as Goofy, a Disney character.
Through social networks, one or more people contact children and adolescents to steal information about their habits, their family and put them to the test with challenges, which at first are very simple things, but quickly begin to incite them to self harm and suicide.
Children are drawn to very ordinary conversations with friend requests on social media. Two days ago, authorities confiscated the cell phone and the console that the boy used to connect to the Internet and play games. A specialist will try to piece together the child’s last conversations, and a lawyer will listen to some of the friends, who may know a little more.
Italian Minister for Regional Affairs Francesco Boccia commented on the case on social media: “That boy is the son of all of us. We ask for exemplary penalties and zero tolerance for anyone who instigates suicide.”
“Homem Goofy” left Brazil on alert
The “Goofy Man” case had repercussions in Brazil on June 17, when the Civil Police and the Santa Catarina Court of Justice issued an alert to parents, teachers and other tutors about profiles on social networks “that have scared children on the internet with horror content and messages that can induce suicide “.
At the end of June, the Brazilian authorities issued a statement. series of alerts for parents of children who use the Internet daily and especially social networks. However, these profiles began to appear in Europe in 2017, with publications in Spanish.
The authorities recognized, however, that the evidence is fragile and stated that the investigation into the alleged “Goofy Man” did not yield “anything concrete”, justifying the alert as a form of prevention and promote parental and guardian control over the content that children access on social media.
In July, the Judicial Police declared I have no record of any case in Portugal, but JN learned that there are Portuguese children who have already had contact with the character on TikTok.
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